Ever since I sold my '97 F350 PSD 4x4, I'd been regretting it. Recently, after getting stuck in the mountains of Eastern Arizona after a few big snows in my 2wd, I decided that a 4x4 would not be a bad idea. When you're trapped alone for a lengthy period of time, you have lots of time to think.

When I got back to TN, I started looking for another 7.3. I looked at a bunch of trucks, but just couldn't find the simple XL base I was looking for. Finally, a '95 appeared, and I got it for a decent price due to the myriad of ailments from which it suffered.

The bad: totally blown out tie rods, ball joints, u-joints, synchros, clutch, nasty bench seat with a hole in it, wasted steering gear, and a horrific fuel leak. I'm amazed it made the drive home as bad as the steering and fuel leak were.

It seems overwhelming, but it's not - ya just have to triage the worst of it, and work your way to the easy stuff.

Starting point....

I plan to keep it mostly as Ford delivered it for now, with the exception of converting the dual mass clutch to a single mass. I'm not in love with the TTB front end on the F250, I like the concept, but w/o the coil springs & radius arm the F150's had, I don't see where it really will work all that well. Ultimately, I need to find a Dana 60 solid axle front end and swap it and I think I'll be better off.

First thing was to address some stress cracks on the front sheetmetal. I've never seen anything like it before on this bodystyle Ford. I stripped off the grill and headlight/signal assemblies....

Cleaned off the old paint with a wire wheel in a 4" angle grinder....and repaired the half dozen cracks with the mig.

Cleaned it up again, and applied some primer.

And tossed it all back together. Sorry about the horrific quality of the pic. The old iPhone doesn't appreciate low light.

While struggling with the two fasteners that hold the headlight buckets to the grille, I noticed another oddity here. All the battery cable clamp bolts were total junk, and one of the PO's saw fit to beating them with a hammer. One of the batteries was actually cracked because of this. So out came the battery trays and they were coated with a bituminous coating and reinstalled. I used a die grinder to slice the bolts in the terminal clamps, and replaced the bolts with 1/4" 304 stainless steel. And in went a new group 65 battery.

The outer tie rod ends and the upper and lower ball joints allowed the front tires to deflect a half inch in any particular angle.

After a lengthy conversation with the parts guy, I finally convinced him that parts I wanted were not the parts his computer suggested. The HD 4600lb Dana 50 front end uses a larger lower ball joint than the Dana 44/50 3400-3600lb axles use. IIRC, the uppers are the same.

So then home to take apart the steering knuckle. Calipers removed and hubs pulled....

Seems that every one of these IFS front ends I take apart are a little bit different. I think I have at least four different spindle nut tools now. This one has manual hubs, and they are in pretty good shape.

Off comes the spindle, rotor, rotor guard sheetmetal, pull out the axle shaft, knock off the tie rod end, and pop the ball joints.

Now comes the fun part, pushing out the old, and replacing with the new.

The front axle u-joints are usually the crustiest ones on the truck. Perhaps because they are used the least, and the biggest PITA to change. So when you get this far in to do ball joints, might as well get the u-joints also.

Which was a good idea. Here's what they looked like.

Broken rollers and rust. These likely would have broken when I needed them most.

So they get pressed out, and the shafts cleaned up a little bit.

Half shaft, half beer. Coincidence? I think not.

And in goes the new u-joint. Half done....

Listo!

Same dealio for the other side, except there are two u-joints. New output shaft seals go into the Dana 50, and it all goes back together.

New ball joints in the steering knuckle....note how nasty that tie rod end is.....

I recall the flattened downpipe thingy my '97 F350 had. This one appears to have a 3" round downpipe from the turbo, then go to 4". I don't know much about this exhaust, but it does seem well built. Nice bends and quality welds.

Wouldn't a D60 had been cheaper and easier? They are hard to come by though and kind of expensive, at least where I live.

Probably yes. But they are rare as hen's teeth right now where I live, but reworking the TTB Dana 50 isn't all that expensive. I have under $200 in the front end now. If I knew I was going to keep it, I'd have reshimmed the diff and added a limited slip.

When and if the day comes when I can find a solid axle front end, I'll jump on it. Until then, I just have to get it rolling.

Probably yes. But they are rare as hen's teeth right now where I live, but reworking the TTB Dana 50 isn't all that expensive. I have under $200 in the front end now. If I knew I was going to keep it, I'd have reshimmed the diff and added a limited slip.

When and if the day comes when I can find a solid axle front end, I'll jump on it. Until then, I just have to get it rolling.

Well thats not bad at all, figured it would cost more than that. I can't believe how clean the underside of that truck looks, must not get too much snow down there.

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